: The objective of my essay is to identify how the rhetorical situation of war victory is used to formulate peace rhetoric. Even though, there have been many studies conducted on presidential and war rhetoric of western leaders such as Barak Obama and George W Bush, scholars have not paid enough attention on presidential rhetoric used by leaders in other parts of the world, especially in Asia. There is a critical need to understand presidential war rhetoric in the Asian context as terrorism and war have been a growing integral part of the social political atmosphere in most of the Asian counties.
Keywords: Mahinda Rajapaksa’s war memorial speech, former Sri Lankan President, paradox, peace rhetoric, rhetorical analysis
